Our farm share encourages us to take what we will use. I do that. In fact, this week’s crops came in such astounding abundance, that we didn’t even take our full share, and I still found the amount of food in my kitchen overwhelming. In an oh-so-exciting way! But I did turn down a few items because I don’t want to waste. However, even when I use up everything I take, there are food scraps. So before you take those scraps to the compost, I’d like to encourage you to use them. Yes, those garlic and onion skins, tough asparagus stalk ends, tomato peels, basil stalks, bell pepper stems, carrot and beet greens – yes, all those things you don’t use in everything else…they make incredible vegetable stock.
I’ve found that the key is not to boil them forever. While soups often get better with a long, slow simmer, stock tends to weaken over time. And in the middle of summer, who wants all that steam in the kitchen? So start with your standard mirapoux – olive oil, garlic, carrot and celery. Saute for a few minutes, and then toss everything else in with water, salt and pepper. In about 45 minutes, you’ll have a deep brown, very flavorful vegetable stock. I drained mine through cheesecloth to weed out the little bits. Then I froze some in small quantities, gave some away and used some almost immediately. And after all is said and done, you can put the boiled veggies in the compost. And feel great about having gotten the most out of them.
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